NEWS

Kozlov, Tiafoe among top juniors set to represent the U.S. in junior world team competitions

Stefan Kozlov and Francis Tiafoe, two 15-year-olds ranked in the Top 100 of the ITF World Junior Rankings, are among the young Americans who have been named to represent the United States in prestigious international team competitions next month.

The qualifying events for the 16-and-under Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas events and the 14-and-under boys’ and girls’ World Junior Tennis Competition North/Central American and Caribbean Final will take place May 2-4, in Montreal, Canada.

This round of each premier world team competition serves as regional qualifying for the World Finals. The top two teams from each division that advance through round-robin play move on to compete in the World Finals. The Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup Finals will be held Sept. 24-29 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, while the World Junior Tennis Finals will take place Aug. 5-10 in Prostejov, Czech Republic.

Players named to represent the U.S. in the regional qualifying event are:

Junior Davis Cup

Junior Fed Cup

Stefan Kozlov, 15 Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Nicole Frenkel, 15, Winchester, Mass.

Francis Tiafoe, 15, College Park, Md.

Jessica Ho, 16, Wexford, Pa.

Henrik Wiersholm, 16, Kirkland, Wash.

Katerina Stewart, 15, Miami

Coach: Nicolas Todero

Coach: Freddy Rodriguez

World Junior Tennis - Boys

World Junior Tennis - Girls

Patrick Kypson, 13, Greenville, N.C.

CiCi Bellis, 14, Atherton, Calif.

Sam Riffice, 14, Roseville, Calif.

Michaela Gordon, 13, Los Altos Hills, Calif.

Gianni Ross, 14, Burr Ridge, Ill.

Claire Liu, 12, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Coach: Andy Brandi

Coach: Richard Ashby

Kozlov, currently No. 19 in the world junior rankings for players ages 18-and-under, is the only 15-year-old ranked in the Top 20, while Tiafoe, at No. 82, is one of only four players ages 15-and-under in the Top 100. Kozlov led the U.S. to a third-place Junior Davis Cup finish last year, while Tiafoe helped the U.S. to World Junior Tennis gold in 2012.

Also last year, the U.S. won its second Junior Fed Cup title, with the other coming in 2008. In all, the U.S. has won two Junior Davis Cup titles (1999, 2008), four World Junior Tennis boys titles (2002-03, 2008, 2012) and five World Junior Tennis girls titles (1992, 2007-10).

Kozlov and teammate Henrik Wiersholm train at the USTA Training Center – Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., as does Junior Fed Cup team member Nicole Frenkel.

Former U.S. junior international team members include Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Sloane Stephens, Christina McHale and Lindsay Davenport. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have also represented their countries in junior international team competition.